All 4 games have been played away from brookvale and really we should be 4 from 4... our only 2 losses were games that we lead by 20!!

Losses like we had in the first 2 games can help set up a season though... the boys don't have to remember too far back to realise why it's important to play the full 80 and I think those 2 losses should help in eliminating any lapse in concentration throughout the season.

We have lost of best player (B Stewart), arguably our best prop (G Rose) and have 2 rookie halves. I doubt many teams would be going as good as we are with those sort of circumstances... a credit to the coaching staff.

I hope we keep it up and at least make the finals and from there anything can happen!

Before the season kicked off we were assessed as also-rans by many pundits, and also many Manly fans. In addition to losing our chief (only) playmaker from last year's team we have now also lost Brett Stewart. So with all that in mind I am quite impressed with the way we have started the year.

Saints & Melbourne have been more impressive than us so far, and I'd say the Tigers as well. But who else? And we all saw how narrowly the tiges got past us in R1. I have always been confident that this team will be a lot more formidable by the end of the season than at the start. I can't fault the effort of the players. Choc hasn't even hit his straps yet. Further injuries to key players aside, no reason we aren't on track to being top-4 contenders.

(ps I just ran spell check, it suggested I replace 'also-rans' with 'Alsations'. After serious consideration I decided to leave as is.)

Yep we could quite easily be on top of the ladder at 4 - 0 if it wasn't for about 45 mins of lazy/ill disciplined/unlucky football. Certainly a better start than last year that's for sure, and can still see some improvement to come in the team. Should beat the Sharks this week but then we have Storm, Titans, Bunnies and Dragons, which I'm hoping we can win at least two of those to stay in touch with the top 4.

That's a tough patch after the gummies, CnC. It will be a serious test of the new combo at 7 and 6.

Pluses soÂ far:
learning curves of the halves: just keep going lads;
Forwards have a very solid look along with the bench pigs. Rose will be missed but good to see Kite step up a gear v. the Warriors;
G Stewart -- Lyon attacking combo on the right side;
Farrar providing a credible fullback fill in stabilising the whole backline functioning (unlike last year)
Matai in mature mode

Room for improvement:
Watmough/Left side of the ruck attack. Choc can't drop that many balls again and seems to be firing up, while Hodgkinson should gradually develop confidence to work that side;
Would like an impact backrower off the bench (part of what Menzies provided is still missing)
Ballin to attack more from dummy half.

The team looks like it is reinventing its attack as opposed to last year where it was suffering badly from waiting for stewie blues. foran is dangerous and growing in confidence in linking up with other options. It's a long season but top 4 is not impossible if we get a few breaks with injuries this year.

Farrar Had a very good game at Fullback and is getting better every game
Our Forwards will outplay, outmuscle, Outdo any other pack this season when we are on
The Halves are also starting to gel al abit slowly but there were a couple of good things I saw out of them when they combined
we have a lot more kicking options this season and there is about 60-70% of them are spot on
Matai had his best game for 12 months and with a bit of luck he holds that form as I rate him as 1 of the best centres in the game
Ballin 80min every week thats the way it should be from now on

It is also worth noting that the teams that play us are falling into a big hole the week afterwards, demonstrating that our forwards are doing a good job on the physical front. Whilst losing to Parra and Tigpies, they both didn't turn up the week after. That is a good sign.

I'm also pleased with our bench players.Â Gulavoa has impressed me as has Cross.Â Much more balanced than last year and I agree, without those couple of forward passes, we'd be first.Â Not such a bad thing as 'under the radar' seems to work for us.Â All Des needs to do is eliminate the penalties from King's game, and get some sticky stuff for Choc's hands.Â Our line defense was very good against the Warriors when you compare it with the two soft tries Newcastle scored the week before.Â Obviously the team takes on board what Des says.Â

I said at the start of the season we will be there or thereabouts.Â We only needed a little bit of luck to go our way and we would be 4 and 0 overall.Â

I think the guys dropped off against the Tiggers and I think we were penalised out of the game by the refs at P/matta.Â (Maybe the refs were concerned about getting out of P/matta Stadium alive if they didn't get P/matta back into the game.)

Point for improvement - the halves to kick just a little better to slow play down.Â I'm still seeing kicks in play going directly to a fullback or a winger on the full a few too many times.Â But this is their first year and they seem like a good combination for the future.